Joséphin Péladan (28 March 1858 in Lyon – 27 June 1918 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French novelist and éphinPéRosicrucian who later briefly joined the Martinist order led by Papus (Gérard Encausse). His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed an esoteric-aesthetic form of Rosicrucianism and universalist Catholicism. He established the Salon de la Rose + Croix for painters, writers, and musicians sharing his artistic ideals, the Symbolists in particular.
Biography
Péladan was born into a Lyon family that was devoutly Roman Catholic. He studied at Jesuit colleges at Avignon and Nîmes. After he failed his baccalaureat, Péladan moved to Paris and became a literary and art critic. His older brother Adrien studied alchemy and occultism as well. Péladan was an extremely active member of the French Occult Revival and a key influence on French and Belgian Symbolist art. However, his eccentric manner and overbearing nature caused him to be largely ridiculed during his lifetime, and quickly forgotten upon his early death from shellfish poisoning.
Career
In 1882 he came to Paris where Arsene Houssaye gave him a job on his artistic review, L'Artiste. In 1884 he published his first novel, Le vice suprême, which recommended the salvation of man through occult magic of the ancient East. His novel was an instant success with the French public, which was experiencing a revived interest in spirituality and mysticism. The novel went through several printings.
Péladan's Le vice suprême and subsequent novels are interwoven with Rosicrucian and occult themes. He shared the design of his full cycle of novels - often including those in planning - in appendices to many of his books. After reading Péladan's first novel, the French poet Stanislas de Guaita became interested in occultism. Following long correspondence, the two became acquainted in Paris. Péladan was somewhat influenced by the teachings of Eliphas Lévi, but his main focus drew on the Rosicrucian tenets derived from the order of Toulouse Rosicrucians into which he had been initiated by his brother Adrien, with a strong focus on doing good in the world and reaching for spiritual ideals. Péladan initiated de Guaita into his order, and soon afterwards, de Guaita shared his vision of building an esoteric school that would blend and revive historical esoteric orders. After becoming acquainted with Gérard Encausse, de Guaita convinced Péladan that they should work together to realise this project.
Encausse, who went by the pseudonym "Papus", was a Spanish-born French physician and occultist who had written books on magic, Kabbalah and the Tarot. In 1888, the three men founded the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix (French Order Kabbalistique de Rose-Croix, O.K.R.C.).
Among other teachings, the OKRC provided training in a syncretic form of Kabbalah originating in an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism, which attempts to reveal hidden mystical insights in the Hebrew Bible and divine nature. The other council members drew in elements of Martinism, Masonic, and Theosophical thought. The order also conducted examinations and provided university degrees on esoteric topics. De Guaita had a large private library of books on metaphysical issues, magic, and the "hidden sciences." He was nicknamed the "Prince of the Rosicrucians" by his contemporaries for his broad learning on Rosicrucian issues.
By the 1890s, De Guaita, Papus and Péladan's collaboration became increasingly strained by disagreements over strategy and doctrines. De Guaita and Papus lost Péladan's support, who left to start an order that was closer to his own vision. In June 1890, Péladan created a quasi-Catholic Ordre du Temple de la Rose + Croix. He designated himself Grand Master, and created an open structure in three levels: Squire, Knight, and Commander. Sworn members and adepts could serve according to their inclination and talents: through the arts and sciences; through a reformed version of the Catholic faith; or a more mystical approach of communion with the Holy Spirit. Péladan envisioned an international network of members applying the best of human talent for an ultimately humanist approach to life.
Ordre du Temple de la Rose + Croix and the Salons de la Rose + Croix
The Ordre du Temple de la Rose + Croix became Péladan's outlet for his beliefs concerning the role of spirituality and idealism in art. As an art critic, Péladan had been vocal in critiquing the dominant trends in French art, which included officially sanctioned styles promoted by the academy, and the Impressionists.